THE PAMPAS OF PATAGONIA. 25 



adopted the white man's weapons. I never saw an 

 Indian with a firearm, though doubtless an odd revolver 

 may find its way into their guanaco-skin toldos. But 

 for the purposes of the chase they use the boleadores, 

 and some of them are even so conservative as to retain 

 the flint knife of prehistoric times. Boleadores used for 

 the chase of guanaco or ostrich are loaded with balls of 

 solid metal or with stones. Three such missiles, each 

 the size of a tennis ball, one being pear-shaped, to fit 

 the grasp of the hand, are sewn up in raw-hide bags and 

 fastened at the three points of a thong like a Y, two 

 arms of which are some four feet in length, the third 

 longer. Seizing this weapon by the pear-shaped ball, 

 which is at the single end of the Y, the Indian hunter, 

 going at full gallop, whirls it round his head, letting it 

 fly at the neck or legs of the ostrich or the guanaco that 

 he may be chasing. The impact of the heavy balls will 

 often break the quarry's legs, or at any rate in a few 

 bounds or strides entangle them in such a way as to 

 bring it to the ground. 



An organised day's hunt with the Tehuelches is an 

 interesting function. The cacique, or chief, arranges the 

 plans, having first made sure of the neighbourhood of 

 large herds of guanaco, which form the staple of the 

 game to be secured. The hunters ride off in couples, 

 each with a led horse in addition to the one he is riding, 

 and accompanied by six or eight gaunt hounds that still 

 betray in some degree their greyhound ancestry. They 

 are mostly too light to be able to pull down a full-grown 

 buck, but against ostriches and young guanaco they are 

 very serviceable. 



The hunters form a huge circle, perhaps of some fifty 

 miles, and drive the game inwards, lighting fires on the 



